Contemplative Bible Reading

Matthew 11:4 (New International Version 2010)

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:

Some followers of John the Baptizer have come to Jesus. They want to know who he is. He tells them these simple directions.

I guess things can become much more complicated if I make them much more complicated. I don’t have to do that. I can simply tell people what I hear and see. Here are some things I have recently seen and heard in my Christian experience:

people smile at one another

people hug one another when they meet

people cry in each other’s arms when tragedy enters their lives

people go out of their way to eat a meal with other people

people stop their busy lives and sit and listen to another person for an hour without judging

people extend a hand to social outcasts

people feed people who have no food and no money

people give a car seat to a mother who has no money yet has a new baby

I could go on.

I’ve also seen and heard things that aren’t uplifting. I have heard people say hateful things about one another and burn holes through one another with a hateful stare. Such is the human condition. And such makes the prior list even more precious because it shows how we can forgive one another and keep living as Christians.